[ a collection of 7 books: Your First Million by Arlan Hamilton & Prison Love by D. Braxtonbrown-Smith with front covers facing up; Bruno by Delaney Diamond, Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb, Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, The Summer Escape by Jill Shalvis, A Ruse of Shadows by Sherry Thomas with their spines facing up]  [a "Marietta House Museum Adventure Awaits You" postcard slanted across the upper left corner of a "Wine & Jazz at Marietta Sat., Aug. 3 2PM - 7PM $10/Person Ages 21 & up..." flyer with the silhouette of a saxophonist and a wine bottle]  Prison Love by D. Braxtonbrown-Smith  non-fiction memoir  AuthorHouse, 2008  Prison Love offers readers an intimate look at incarceration as experienced by a woman whose education and other advantages weren't enough to protect her from being tangled up in the criminal justice system. With compassionate candor, the author uses the acknowledgments, forword [sic], introduction, and nine titl

  [front cover of Seducing the Burks: Five Erotic Tales by Cardyn Brooks with the image of an open hand making a beckoning gesture, a "2004 Independent Publisher IP Award Finalist" medallion sticker; back cover with blurb, "authorHOUSE" logo - formerly 1st Books, barcodes]  Self-publishing 21 years ago was still often considered "vanity publishing" as in ego-driven by writers not talented enough to merit a contract with a traditional  publisher. My decision to self-publish came after years of feedback praising the compelling nature and professional quality of my submission as prefaces to rejections that included phrases like, "Will your target audience of readers relate to the level of privilege your main characters have?"   WT...  It took me awhile to understand that since my Black characters are educated and middle class, agents and editors assumed that most readers wouldn't identify with them since (they also assumed) most Black people wer

  [horizontal bookstack of 2 hardcover books: Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton and The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center]   [9 books in a messy horizontal stack next to 4 books arranged vertically: When I Think of You, A Gamble at Sunset, The Prospects, The Takedown, The Fake Out, The Five Year Lie, A Grave Robbery, Winter Lost, Madness..., I Curse You With Joy, Inconceivable, Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You]    Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton*  non-fiction  Legacy Lit, January 2024  Crownsville State Hospital began as Maryland's Hospital for the Negro Insane. This author's personal family history and academic and professional pursuits led to this detailed, thoughtful investigation into the overlapping layers of racism with access to resources, compassion, and opportunities for healing and advancement. It's an emotional, informative, and essential read  in order to honor past suffering and victories, a

  [two-image collage: on the left, an outdoor scene with a "Marietta House Museum EVENT sign next to a blue door that leads to a lower level conference room; on the right, a "Manifest a Writerly Life" worksheet with a Marietta marketing postcard arranged on top] [two-image collage:on the left, an arrangement of 7 books* - Women Without Kids, Flashpoint, The Burnout, Taking Initiative, Christa Comes Out of Her Shell, A Run at Love, Waiting for Friday Night - spread across the cushion of an outdoor loveseat; on the right, a long-distance view of the same outdoor loveseat with a striped area rug beneath it and a white chair with striped seat cushion and part of a table in the foreground] [two hardcover books: Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood face-up and Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner spine-up]  Last Sunday Heather Brooks, founder and co-host of The Write Women Book Fest who writes as H.L. Brooks, hosted her "Manifesting an Author's Life" day retreat for